Gilbert v. MoneyMutual, LLC

318 F.R.D. 614, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186123, 2016 WL 7785453
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 8, 2016
DocketCase No. 13-cv-01171-JSW
StatusPublished

This text of 318 F.R.D. 614 (Gilbert v. MoneyMutual, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gilbert v. MoneyMutual, LLC, 318 F.R.D. 614, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186123, 2016 WL 7785453 (N.D. Cal. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING, IN PART, AND DENYING, IN PART, MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

JEFFREY S. WHITE, United States District Judge

Now before the Court for consideration is the motion for class certification, filed by Plaintiffs, Sean L. Gilbert (“Gilbert”), Keeya Malone (“Malone”), Charmaine B. Aquino (“Aquino”), and Kimberly Bilbrew (“Bil-brew”) (collectively “Plaintiffs”). The Court has considered the parties’ papers, relevant legal authority, the record in this case, and it GRANTS, IN PART, AND DENIES, IN PART, Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification.

BACKGROUND

The Court has set forth the facts underlying this litigation in several prior orders, and it shall repeat them here only as necessary. In brief, Plaintiffs allege they applied for and obtained “payday loans” from entities that are not licensed to issue such loans in California (“Unlicensed Lenders”). (Fifth Amended Complaint (“5th AC”), ¶¶ 52-55.)1 Plaintiffs have not sued the Unlicensed Lenders. Instead, they have sued, inter alia, Defendants, MoneyMutual LLC (“MoneyMu-tual”), Selling Source, LLC (“Selling Source”), Glenn McKay, PartnerWeekly, [619]*619LLC (“PartnerWeekly”), John Hashman, Brian Rauch, Samuel W. Humprheys, Douglas Tulley, and Alton F. Irby III (“collectively, the Money Mutual Defendants”) and Mon-tel Brian Anthony Williams (“Mr. Williams”).

The MoneyMutual Defendants are the business of generating “leads,” which consist of “information concerning persons who have identified themselves over the internet as interested in obtaining short-term personal loans.” (Docket No. 233-16, Declaration of Tim Madsen (“Madsen Deck”), ¶ 2.) The MoneyMutual Defendants then connect those leads “via a real-time, electronic system to potential lenders who have contracted with PartnerWeekly for the opportunity to review and potentially acquire leads meeting parameters established” by lenders. (Id.)

According to Mr. Madsen, PartnerWeekly’s President, PartnerWeekly obtains leads from the MoneyMutual.com website, or from independent third-party affiliates known as “Publishers.” (Id. ¶¶3-4.)2 Partner Weekly obtains leads from Publishers either through websites operated by the Publishers or through banner and pop-up advertising. In the latter instance, a potential lead can be redirected to “an internal web page maintained by PartnerWeekly which includes the same form as that on the MoneyMutual website” and may also be directed to other lead generation websites. (See id. ¶¶ 4-5.)

PartnerWeekly maintains an ongoing electronic database, which includes all leads offered since September 2009 to contracting lenders through PartnerWeekly’s real-time electronic system. That database includes “basic identifying information concerning the lead ..., including the person’s name, address, phone numbers and the email address from which the person submitted his or her information; the date and time when the lead is received by PartnerWeekly ...; information concerning the source of the lead to PartnerWeekly,” whether or not the lead was acquired by a lender, and, if so, the lender’s identity. The database does not include any information about whether the lender ultimately offered a loan to the person identified in the lead. (Id. ¶¶ 9-12.)

Plaintiffs allege that the MoneyMutual Defendants and Williams assisted the Unlicensed Lenders in the origination of payday loans without a license to do so. (5th AC ¶ 58.) According to Plaintiffs, they each obtained a payday loan from an Unlicensed Lender by using the MoneyMutual.com website or a website of an entity affiliated with Selling Source. (5th AC ¶¶ 50-54.)

Plaintiffs now move to certify the following classes:

All California residents who received a “payday loan” from an UNLICENSED LENDER on or after February 11, 2009 by using any website affiliated with or in response to an email from Selling Source, LLC or one of its subsidiaries. Any lender owned by an American Indian Tribe during the entire Class Period is excluded. All California residents who received a “payday loan” from an UNLICENSED LENDER on or after February 11, 2009 by using the MoneyMutual website. Any lender owned by an American Indian Tribe during the entire Class Period is excluded.3

(5th AC, ¶¶ 23-24 (emphasis in original).)4 The Court refers to these two classes as the Selling Source Class and the MoneyMutual Class, respectively.

ANALYSIS

A. Applicable Legal Standards.

Class certifications are governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (“Rule [620]*62023”). As the moving parties, Plaintiffs bear the burden of “demonstrating that [they have] met each of the four requirements of Rule 23(a) and at least one of the requirements of Rule 23(b).” Lozano v. AT&T Wireless Servs., Inc., 504 F.3d 718, 724 (9th Cir. 2007); see also Zinser v. Accufix Research Institute, Inc., 253 F.3d 1180, 1186 (9th Cir.), amended 273 F.3d 1266 (9th Cir. 2001) (trial court must conduct a “rigorous analysis” to determine whether the requirements of Rule 23 have been met). “Rule 23 does not set forth a mere pleading standard. A party seeking class certification must affirmatively demonstrate ... compliance with the Rule— that is, [the party] must be prepared to prove that there are in fact sufficiently numerous parties, common questions of law or fact, etc.” Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338, 131 S.Ct. 2541, 2551, 180 L.Ed.2d 374 (2011). “Class certification is not immutable, and class representative status could be withdrawn or modified if at any time the representatives could no longer protect the interests of the class.” Cummings v. Connell, 316 F.3d 886, 896 (9th Cir. 2003) (citing Soc. Servs. Union, Local 535 v. County of Santa Clara, 609 F.2d 944, 948-49 (9th Cir. 1979)).

The Supreme Court has noted that, frequently, a “‘rigorous analysis’” of the Rule 23 factors, “will entail some overlap with the merits of the plaintiffs underlying claim. That cannot be helped.” Wal-Mart, 131 S.Ct. at 2551. “The district court is required to examine the merits of the underlying claim in this context, only inasmuch as it must determine whether common questions exist; not to determine whether class members could actually prevail on the merits of their claims.” Ellis v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 657 F.3d 970, 983 n.8 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Walr-Mart, 131 S.Ct. at 2552 n.6). “To hold otherwise would turn class certification into a mini-trial.” Ellis, 657 at 983 n.8.

B. Plaintiffs’ Claims.

Plaintiffs assert claims against the Money-Mutual Defendants and Williams for violations of the California Deferred Deposit Transaction Law, California Financial Code sections 23000, et seq. (the “CDDTL Claim”), violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, California Business and Professions Code sections 17200, et seq.

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Bluebook (online)
318 F.R.D. 614, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186123, 2016 WL 7785453, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilbert-v-moneymutual-llc-cand-2016.